ITV

Tag: Jio GigaFiber

  • Dish TV reduces STB rate, offers 1-month free subscription

    Dish TV reduces STB rate, offers 1-month free subscription

    MUMBAI: DTH player Dish TV is looking at various ways to stay strong in the market. The latest move is to reduce the price of its set top boxes. Dish TV has slashed the rate of its most premium STB. Now, Dish TV NXT STB will be available for Rs 1590, which is Rs 50 less than the previous cost.

    Usually, the price would only cover the cost of the STB but now the DTH operator is also offering a free one-month subscription, lifetime warranty and coupons worth Rs 2000, according to reports. This means that subscribers won’t have to pay a penny for HD channels for one month.

    The NXT STB has a smart and easy user interface with intuitive functionalities. It also has multi-lingual support as well as games.

    Other DTH players have also taken similar steps recently. Airtel Digital TV slashed rates by Rs 200 while Tata Sky is offering both SD and HD STBs for Rs 400 less.

    These decisions by DTH players sound like strategies to counter the threat that is being posed by the giant in Jio. The upcoming Jio Home TV is said to rely on its own GigaFiber network to show TV channels. Rumours abound that Jio’s service will cost just Rs 600 where people can watch free channels and get 100 GB worth of data as well as free voice calls. The Jio Triple Play is what it is being called.

  • Jio Gigafiber tops Netflix report on best internet speeds

    Jio Gigafiber tops Netflix report on best internet speeds

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio Gigafiber has topped the list of internet service providers (ISPs) with the highest speed, according to a report by Netflix. In the month of February, it had a speed of 3.61 mbps beating rivals Airtel, Spectranet and 7 Star Digital.

    Since its launch in September 2018, Jio has consistently maintained its pole position in the chart giving speeds above 3.41 mbps. The report is released by Netflix to show which provider can give the best viewing experience for its videos.

    After Jio, 7 Star Digital gave a speed of 3.43 mbps, Spectranet with 3.34 mbps and Airtel with 3.29 mbps. Some of the other bigger players such as Hathway, ACT Fibernet, MTNL and BSNL were ranked lower in the list.

    The company is leaving no stone unturned to ensure it dominates the internet space. Last week, it was reported that Reliance Jio is testing a Triple Play Plan for its fibre to the home (FTTH) service, Jio GigaFiber. The plan will enable users to access Jio GigaFiber, Jio Home TV and Jio Apps in a single pack. The plan will offer 100GB of high-speed data, unlimited voice calling, Jio Home TV subscription along with access to Jio’s portfolio of app. It will be valid for 28 days.

    Mukesh Ambani-led Jio announced its high speed fixed line broadband services for retail customers last year. During the formal announcement, it was announced that Jio Giga Fibre would come with a Jio Giga TV set top box offering more than 600 TV channels as well as over 1000 movies with enabled voice command feature for TV.

    Along with that, an interesting feature of video calling through TV was also highlighted. Users can call every other TV connected through Jio Gigafibre.  For smooth rollout of the service, the company also acquired majority stakes in multi system operators such as Hathway and DEN Networks.

  • Jio to connect GigaFiber, Home TV and apps

    Jio to connect GigaFiber, Home TV and apps

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio is reportedly testing a 'Triple Play Plan' for its fibre to the home (FTTH) service, Jio GigaFiber. The plan will enable users to access Jio GigaFiber, Jio Home TV and Jio Apps in a single pack.

    As per a report from Telecom Talk, the company is testing the triple play plan with its employees and the plan can be seen on the GigaFiber account dashboard.  The plan will offer 100GB of high-speed data, unlimited voice calling, Jio Home TV subscription along with access to Jio’s portfolio of app. It will be valid for 28 days.

    Mukesh Ambani-led Jio announced its high speed fixed lined broadband services for retail customers last year. During the formal announcement, it was announced that Jio Giga Fibre would come with a Jio Giga TV set top box offering more than 600 TV channels as well as over 1000 movies with enabled voice command feature for TV.

    Along with that, an interesting feature of video calling through TV was also highlighted . Users can call every other TV connected through Jio Gigafibre.  For smooth rollout of the service, the company also acquired majority stakes in multi system operators such as Hathway and DEN Networks.

  • GTPL Hathway to promote 40 Mbps broadband speed to masses

    GTPL Hathway to promote 40 Mbps broadband speed to masses

    MUMBAI: As wireline broadband business is emerging as a sector full of growth opportunities, several cable operators, as well as MSOs, are increasing their investment in the segment. GTPL Hathway, the Gujarat based cable and broadband player, is ready to lower its ARPU in the broadband segment to get more customers. Reliance Jio’s entry has got companies worried about losing subscribers and many of them are revising prices while others are ready to lower subscription costs.

    GTPL Hathway’s capex allocation shows the increased importance of broadband business for the company. While in Q1 2019, the capex stood at Rs 21 crore (almost equal to Rs 24 crore capex for cable TV business), in Q4 FY 2018 Rs 8 crore was the broadband capex. For entire FY 2019, the company will invest Rs 50-60 crore on broadband.

    The company’s plan is to make 40 Mbps a mass product for which the ARPU stands at Rs 388 to Rs 450 per month. One of the main reasons for emphasising on this particular range is to control churn rate of subscribers as attracting more customers with high speed and high volume will make a loyal user base. Churn is happening more on the side of lower speed, where the company is providing 5 Mbps or 8 Mbps speed due to the wireless competition. Even for the 40 Mbps plan, the cost has already come down.

    “We are pushing this (40 Mbps) for mass, so we are looking forward that the numbers will start coming from this quarter and next quarter we will see a surge in the number,” chief strategy officer Piyush Pankaj commented on the broadband segment revenue in an earnings call. The company has targetted broadband revenue for this financial year to be at Rs 160-170 crore.

    Though overall the company witnessed only 10,000 new broadband subscriber addition despite creating 230,000 home passes, its logic revolves around the basic formula of supply and demand. “In this quarter if you see our FTTH implementation on the ground for the home pass is around 65-70 per cent complete and then you see the home pass is increased,” Pankaj added. According to company guidance, it is going to add around 100,000 net subscribers this year.

    The Jio rampage is likely to cause havoc in the broadband sector too. Pankaj said that the company is waiting for other players to come into the market with new pricing to make any decision on whether or not to scale down investment. For now, the capex guidance for broadband business would remain same.

    “The decision like investment in broadband cannot be based on one quarter pricing of any particular player. We expect the market to expand considerably,” GTPL Hathway chairman and non-executive director Rajan Gupta said.

    While GTPL has a huge fibre network available in Gujarat, it is not rolling out fibre to home or building because of low demand. There is a very limited demand for 100mbps and 40mbps in those markets.

    “With large players coming in investing there and that is where is the whole demand will build up and GTPL already has a huge infra, so pricing is one play, but more than pricing it is about revenue from a particular area and the overall size of the pie. Frankly, there are multiple factors needs to be evaluated, which will be clearer over the next two to three quarters,” Gupta added.

    In terms of its traditional cable business, the company expects phase three and phase four ARPU increase in this quarter and next quarter while phase one and phase two ARPU increased in the last quarter.

    “For phase two we are going to take the hike (10 per cent hike) in Q4 of FY 2019. Phases three and phase four we have already taken the hike in Q2 that is from July onwards,” Pankaj said. “Current Q1 ARPU we will see the 10 per cent jump for phases three and four, but you will see the full 10 per cent increase in two quarters’ time in Q2 and Q3,” he added further.

    Though the company had Rs 126 crore content cost in Q1, it is now confident that it won’t exceed Rs 500-510 crore until some big acquisition happens. However, the company has indicated it is looking forward to some of the acquisitions which could increase the content cost further as well as the revenue.

  • Tata Sky rolls out broadband service to take on Reliance Jio

    Tata Sky rolls out broadband service to take on Reliance Jio

    MUMBAI:  Now, even DTH players are growing wary of the threat from Reliance Jio. Even as the registrations for Jio’s GigaFiber have commenced, one of the oldest DTH networks, Tata Sky, has ventured into the fixed line broadband sector in 12 cities.

    Last month, Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio formally announced the rollout of Jio GigaFiber. The new disruption in the market created an ambience of cautiousness predicting that it could affect India’s multi-billion-dollar cable TV and DTH businesses. In a bid to secure market share, Tata Sky has now joined the race.  

    Mumbai, Thane, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Pune, Bhopal, Chennai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, and Mira Bhayandar will be the first to get the service. The new plans are available on five packages including one, three, five, nine and twelve months. The data speed and limit will vary depending upon the type of the package. Starting from 5Mbps, the speeds will go up to 100Mbps. For monthly and three month plans, a one-time amount of Rs 1200 will be charged at the time of installation with which a wifi-router will be given free of cost. Rest of the packages will not require any installation charge. There are five add-on plans called ‘Quota on Demand’ which will only be valid through the validity period of the base pack. The pricing seems costlier than that of local cable players while there’s already a perception that Tata Sky is a premium service.

    Jio lured customers with several additional amenities including Jio Giga TV set top box. The way it wrecked the telecom market with cheap data pricing, it was feared that it could disrupt the broadband sectors as well and can emerge as a replacement to DTH and cable players. In this regard, it could be tough for Tata Sky with its limited amenities to attract more users.

    Comparatively, India has low penetration in fixed broadband sector. A report from Media Partners Asia said India’s FLBB penetration was expected to increase to 10.3 per cent from the present single digit share by the year 2022. Moreover, as content and applications keep getting heavier and denser in size, FLBB high speed broadband solutions could be ideal for offices and homes.  Hence, unexplored opportunities of FLBB can fuel the growth of new players also.